For Clovelly locals, Leah Stewart’s first detailed account of surviving a shark attack at nearby Coogee Beach brings a personal story close to home, shaped by her determination to return to her daughter and the people who helped keep her alive.
The attack happened at Coogee Beach on 13 June, placing the incident at a neighbouring beach familiar to people living along Sydney’s eastern suburbs coastline.
For Stewart, what began as a regular morning swim became the start of months of surgery, rehabilitation and adjustment. Her decision to now tell her own account has shifted attention towards what followed the attack as much as what happened in the water.
A Story Close To Clovelly Locals
Stewart had been swimming near shore and between the flags when another swimmer’s scream alerted her to a shark nearby.
The great white, estimated at about four metres long, came to within about 30 centimetres of her face. Stewart, who is right-handed, decided to strike it with her left arm.
The shark severely injured that arm, which was later amputated. It also tore muscle from her left thigh and caused serious nerve and tendon damage to her right hand.
When the shark seized her leg and pulled her underwater, Stewart thought of her young daughter August. The prospect of her daughter growing up without her became the reason she kept fighting, repeatedly striking the shark before it released her.
The People Waiting On The Shore
What happened next depended on people who were at or near Coogee Beach that morning.
World champion paddleboarder Charlie Verco went into the water to help Stewart, while Ben Heenan, then president of Coogee Surf Life Saving Club, responded with a board.
Heenan had been swimming with his partner, doctor Kassandra McGregor, who called Triple Zero. Trauma specialist Dr Ian Ferguson was also nearby and joined the emergency response once Stewart was brought ashore.
Her blood loss was so severe that a vein could not be found. Ferguson accessed the bone marrow in both shoulders so fluids and later blood could be administered. Police officers at the beach also assisted.
Stewart has since publicly credited Verco and Heenan with helping her reach shore and has repeatedly acknowledged the wider group whose actions helped keep her alive.
Recovery Became A Community Effort
The support did not end when Stewart reached hospital.
She underwent 11 operations, including skin grafts for the wound to her thigh, and spent about 10 days in a coma before beginning rehabilitation.
Since waking, she has worked on walking again, improving the use of her injured right hand and relearning how to write.
Practical help also arrived from outside the hospital. Mothers provided baby essentials, friends prepared meals, and others sent flowers, photographs, care packages and messages.
Thousands of people donated to and shared a GoFundMe campaign supporting Stewart and her family.
She later met some of the people involved in saving her again at Maroubra Surf Life Saving Club, this time away from the emergency in which they had first encountered one another.
Coogee Remains Part Of The Recovery
For Clovelly locals, the story remains rooted just along the coast at Coogee, where swimming had previously been part of Stewart’s regular routine and a way for her to relax.
She has since returned to Coogee Beach but was not ready to enter the water again when discussing her recovery. She has left open the possibility of swimming there again in the future.
Stewart has also described finally giving her own account of the attack as part of her healing. By the time she woke from her coma, what had happened was already widely known, while her own version remained untold.
Her rehabilitation is continuing, with Stewart placing much of her attention on her daughter, the rescuers who reached her that morning and the wider network that helped her family afterwards. She has also expressed a desire to pass forward the support she received as her recovery continues.
Published 1-September-2026
